Nicolaus Copernicus (b. 19 February, 1473—24 May, 1543) was a Polish polymath who lived during the Renaissance era. He was a contemporary of Paracelsus and Leonardo Da Vinci. Copernicus is best known for his astronomical work. This included coming up with the first comprehensive heliocentric cosmology, which displaced the Earth from the centre of the universe. In addition, he was a mathematician, astronomer, physician, quadrilingual polyglot, classical scholar, translator, artist, Catholic cleric, jurist, governor, military leader, diplomat and economist.